(Professor Beattie is the Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton in London and Director of the Digby Stuart Research Centre for Religion, Society and Human Flourishing.)
Sixty years ago the Thames was declared biologically dead. Today it’s one of the cleanest urban rivers in the world. I live on a houseboat on the tidal Thames and I swim in the river throughout the year, surrounded by the plop and splash of leaping fish and gazed upon by curious grebes, swans, herons and coots. Colonies of seals are breeding in the Thames estuary, and porpoises have been spotted as far upstream as Richmond. This transformation needed policy change and laws to control industrial pollution, but it’s sustained by armies of volunteers who gather litter and keep records of the river’s wildlife and ecology.
The Today programme is listened to by over 7 million people every week. Imagine the impact we would have on our environment if every one of us picked up just one piece of litter a day, and resolved to avoid buying anything plastic one day a week. Such small changes won’t save the ecosystem, but they can be potent reminders of how, just because we can’t do everything, there’s no excuse for not doing anything. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”
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